Question: $b(n) = -4 - 2(n - 1)$ Find the $12^\text{th}$ term in the sequence.
Answer: This is an explicit formula. All we have to do is plug $n=12$ in the formula to find the $12^\text{th}$ term. $\begin{aligned} b({12}) &= -4 - 2 ({12} - 1) \\\\ &= -26 \end{aligned}$ The $12^\text{th}$ term is $-26$.